She frowned, looking surprised. “I’ve never played before.”
“I can teach you. It’s a fun game, and a great way to work off steam.”
“I’m not steamed.”
He smirked. “You weren’t until I showed up.”
“What if I don’t want you to teach me?”
She wasn’t going to make this easy on him, and he respected that. But he had made some headway—her frown had disappeared. “I’ve been a jerk, I know that. And I understand that you don’t want to go out with me on a date. But I still want to do something to make up for making you mad. I’m not a bad guy, I promise. I want to prove it to you.”
“By teaching me how to play golf?”
“Not the whole game. We’ll just hit some balls at the driving range. If you hate it, you can blame me, and we won’t do anything together again.” That wasn’t the result he wanted, of course, which was a complete change from how he felt yesterday afternoon when he was talking to Travis. Sophie was supposed to be an icebreaker. A way to ease back into dating. Now, and he still couldn’t explain why, everything had changed. Even so, being with Sophie as friends was better than nothing—if she accepted his offer, of course.
“I guess you won’t leave until I give you an answer.” She let out a heavy sigh, as if he’d asked her to build a brick wall withhim. “Fine. I’ll hit a few golf balls with you. But that’s it, and only if you promise to leave me alone afterward.”
“Deal,” he said quickly.
“Wonderful. Now can you please leave? I have to tell the girls to close the shop.”
“I’m outta here.” He pointed his thumb toward the front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night after work. I can pick you up at—”
“I’ll meet you there at six.”
He gave her the address, then beat it out of the shop. As he got in his truck, he couldn’t help the smile taking over his face. One way or another, tomorrow night was going to be interesting.
Chapter 5
Sophie pulled into the parking lot at Ace’s Driving Range, which was just outside of Maple Falls. The gravel crunched beneath her tires as she pulled into a parking space next to an older-model black pickup truck. She realized she had no idea what Joe’s car looked like. As she turned off the engine, she paused, asking herself for the dozenth time why she had agreed to Joe’s invitation. More importantly, she asked herself why she was looking forward to it.
She thought about her date with Landon last night. She’d never tell Joe, but it was a disappointment. She’d managed to rush home and change into something presentable, then run a brush through her hair and arrange it into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. She only wore makeup to church on Sundays, but she added a little mascara to her sparse eyelashes before hurrying back to the shop in time for Landon to pick her up in his white Mercedes with genuine leather upholstery. How did she know it was leather? He had mentioned it twice on the way to the steak house in Hot Springs.
The meal was delicious, the conversation anything but. She’d had no idea someone could talk about himself for an hour straight, but Landon had. After she stopped gaping at his looks, she realized he was boring and tuned him out about fifteen minutes in. That’s when she started thinking about Joe’s warning. Surely he hadn’t gotten upset because he knew Landon was a dud when it came to interpersonal communication. But why had he been so insistent about wanting her to stay away from him?
It was only when Landon started inquiring about her shop, the history of it, and how she ran the business that she felt remotely engaged. Some of his questions were a little too nosy, especially the ones about the day-to-day management of her business, but then again, he was a lawyer. They were used to asking questions. She had evaded the more detailed ones, but at least she’d had the chance to get a word in edgewise.
When he dropped her off at home, she had hurried inside, not inviting him in. She wouldn’t have even if things had gone well. She wasn’t ready for that step yet. The date had been such a letdown she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go out with anyone else at that point.
Knowing she couldn’t keep Joe waiting, she got out of the car. At least tonight would be over quickly. She fully intended to humor him for a few minutes, then go back home and spend Friday night on her couch, like she always did.
The sudden sensation of butterflies in her stomach as she approached the range surprised her. They’d been absent last night with Landon, but now they were flitting around with a vengeance.
Sophie touched her stomach, as if the gesture would settlethem down, then she looked out at the range. A long strip of fake grass was divided into several spaces, and two golfers were already hitting balls into a large field. To her right stood a brightly painted blue-and-yellow clubhouse. She assumed she needed to go there for instructions.
“Hey, you made it.” Joe appeared at her side.
She turned and looked at him. For once he wasn’t wearing his baseball cap. His black hair was almost military short, but the style looked good on him. He was dressed in a navy blue collared, short-sleeved shirt, and instead of shorts he wore trim khaki pants. She barely noticed those, since she couldn’t keep her eyes off his biceps. They were huge and accentuated by his tight short sleeves.
Quickly she turned away from him and said, “Uh, yeah. I’m here. What do we do?”
“Don’t sound so excited.” He chuckled, and she released an inward sigh of relief that he seemed relaxed. She didn’t like being uptight, and lately she’d been wound up tighter than an old-fashioned alarm clock.
He led her to the clubhouse, asked for something called a driver for her, then pulled out his wallet.
She held up her hand. “I’m paying,” she said and pulled her own wallet out of her crossbody bag. She handed the money to the teenager behind the counter, then turned to Joe. “What are you going to play with?”
“My driver is over there.” He pointed to one of the stalls where a golf club leaned against a wall next to a white bucket. “I got here a little early to get a few balls in.”
